It's great to see the new(-ish) Pro being used, rather than merely displayed in an uber-shiny fashion. I'm really looking forward to reading about your findings but initial impressions seem/look really positive - would that be a reasonable assumption?
I am going to give it a fair bit of use before coming to a final conclusion and report. But there are some positives and minor negatives so far. The handle is perfect, not too big, and not as small as his regular Bushcraft knife, which for me is borderline too small. The higher grind compared to most other popular scandi ground knives, which are lower, may take some getting used to. The edge Stu Mitchell puts on my own knives is high like the Pros, so I’m used to it. But for those that maybe aren’t, there will probably be a transitional period, and it may be prone to chipping due to the unfamiliarity. Some may not like it at all. I’ve been using an Alan Wood version of my knife quite a lot this year, that has a lower grind, and my muscle memory has become attuned to that again, so I had to adjust quite a bit before I could make decent feather sticks. But when I did, it’s a dream. The thinner blade profile is amazing for carving, and for making holes.
(compared to my high grind knife. I chipped mine through my own stupidity and impatience late one night some years back, this wouldn’t have happened so badly with a lower grind)
(my Alan Wood has a lower more traditional grind. This has been my main go to knife for the last seven months as the handle profile is so sweet)
I maybe have two features I wish the Pro came with straight away. They don’t detract much from how it is straight from Woodlore, and the second one I may change my mind about. First I would have liked to have seen it in RWL-34. I know Ray is keen on 01, but maybe it could have been offered in both steels to give people the option. I’ve nothing against 01, far from it. My main user above with scandi is 01. I like the patina it holds compared to the more clinical and permanently clean RWL, it’s romantic in a way. I like the edge retention, toughness and ease of sharpening. But the slightly better edge holding retention and corrosion resistance RWL gives me pushes it ahead of 01. It’s a trade off as it’s harder to sharpen, but I personally can’t tell anymore as I’ve been using it for so long. I know Ray likes the fact that 01 can rot away too. RWL won’t do that.
In case your wondering why I’m moaning about the steel when my main user is 01, most of my other users are RWL-34. The scandi Alan Wood and my Stu Mitchell’s, but the SM RWLs are all full flats which I really like for an all round utility knife.
The second point is the ricasso. Maybe that could have been 5mm closer to the handle. It not a major issue as I like to choke farther up on the small guard to give a firmer grip and better balance sometimes. I couldn’t do that if the edge came closer. So it’s a minor point which I’ll form a better opinion of one way or the other over time.
I love the blade shape. As it’s a massive divergence from my own blade dimensions, that’s a surprise as they are very different.
